Fresno State hosts La Verne Thursday morning

Game 11: Fresno State (7-3) vs. La Verne (6-2)
Dec. 12, 2019 • 11 a.m. PT • Fresno, Calif. (Save Mart Center)
Stream: Mountain West Network (pxp Matt Norville)
Radio: 790 ESPN2
Live Stats: bulldogslive.com
Series History: First Meeting

Bulldog Bones
• Fresno State will host its first of two non-Division I opponents this month on Thursday morning. The game against La Verne will have an early tip-off time as it is Elementary School Day..
• The Bulldogs are have played eight non-DI teams in the last five years, winning by an average of 27.9 points per game.
• Following last week's first week of Mountain West action, the Bulldogs are one of four teams, which sit at 2-0 in the league. The MW schedule will pick back up on Jan. 1, 2020 when Fresno State hosts San Diego State.
• After playing eight games during the month of November, the Bulldogs will play just five in December, with only three in the final three weeks of the month.
• Fresno State is 7-0 this season when scoring more than 70 points.
• With three players in its starting lineup who can play the point, Fresno State has been protective of the ball this year, ranking No. 7 in the NCAA with only 11.4 turnovers per game.
• Fresno State's interchangeable offensive leaders are freshmen Hanna Cavinder (16.6), junior Maddi Utti (16.3) and Haley Cavinder (15.6). The trio ranks second, third and fourth in the conference in scoring, and is the only trio to rank in the top four of any league in scoring.

Scouting La Verne
- La Verne enters Thursday's game with a 6-2 record on the year.
- The Leopards are coming off of a 101-69 win over Bethesda on Tuesday night.
- La Verne is averaging 85.3 points per game, which ranks fifth in Division III while attempting 92.0 field goals per contest.
- Despite the high volume of shots, the Leopards shoot just 32.8 percent from the field, 367th in D-III, yet are also No. 1 in rebounds (59.4) and offensive rebounds (29.4) per game.
- The Leopards rank sixth in 3-point attempts (270) and ninth in makes per game (10.0).
- Four players are averaging between 11.9 and 10.5 points per game with sophomore Jazzlyn Johnson leading the team.
- Rebecca Horn is the team's top 3-point threat, knocking down 3.1 per contest while shooting 39.1 percent.

History with La Verne
- Thursday marks the first meeting between Fresno State and La Verne.

Cashing in on turnovers
During its last five games, Fresno State has made a habit of making opponents pay for turning the ball over. That culminated on Saturday with a season-high 35 points off turnovers against Utah State. Fourteen of those came in the first quarter as the Bulldogs built a 27-14 lead.
- Following 34 points off turnovers in the season opener at Cal Poly, the Bulldogs totaled just 28 during its next four games. The 'Dogs totaled 116 during next five games.
- Fresno State has seen an increase of 10.8 points per game between its first five games to its last five games. (23.2-12.4).
- The Bulldogs have recorded four its five highest points off turnover totals in the last five games.

Plenty of days off
Following last Saturday's game versus Utah State, the 'Dogs will play just three games through Dec. 31 before the conference season ramps up on the start of the new year.
- Fresno State played 10 games during the first 31 days of the season.

Making the extra pass
With its three highest assist totals of the season coming in the last three games (18-21-17), Fresno State ranks third in the MW and No. 36 in the NCAA with 146. The Bulldogs have averaged 18.7 assists per game the last three games, four assists higher than its season average.
- Without starting guard Aly Gamez in the lineup against the Lady Rebels, Haley and Hanna Cavinder accounted for 18 of the team's 21 assists with each dishing nine. Prior to that game, Haley dished out seven on Nov. 30 while Hanna had seven on Dec. 7.
- Ranking only sixth in the league in assists, the Bulldogs' low turnover frequency has them leading the MW and ranking No. 18 in the NCAA with a 1.28 assist-to-turnover ratio.

Explosive trio
No team in the country can claim to have three players rank in the top four in scoring in its conference, except Fresno State. The Bulldogs' trio of Haley Cavinder (4th), Hanna Cavinder (2nd) and Maddi Utti (3rd) rank two through four in the Mountain West in scoring.
- In five of Fresno State's nine games, the trio of Maddi Utti, Hanna Cavinder and Haley Cavinder have been the Bulldogs' top three scorers.
- The trio has accounted for 65.8 percent of the team's scoring
- The trio has twice accounted for at least 84 percent of the team's scoring in a game.
- Fresno State is 5-1 when the trio are the team's top three scorers.
- All three have multiple 20-point games this season with 10 combined. The Bulldogs are the only team in the Mountain West with three players who have posted multiple 20-point performances.

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Fresno State hosts La Verne Thursday morning

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Players Mentioned

Haley Cavinder

Hanna Cavinder

Aly Gamez

Maddi Utti

Fresno State Athletics